The aforementioned undergraduate class I took had me work with all aspects of Microsoft Office, including my archenemy in the Office Suite: Access. I never understood Access then, and I still don't understand it now, so you can imagine my delight when I noticed this week's assignment was to create an Access database.
I understand the benefits of creating an Access database and the organizational systems that the program includes for ease of access (oh, there's the namesake of the program. Clever Microsoft.) in organizing that data and referencing it, but I've always been more of a "pen and paper" or "table in Word" guy for some reason. I love my technolgoy and I love the different things I can do with it, but for some reason I just don't see the need to ever use such an extensive database in my future career.
I suppose the only use I could think of is for coaching swimming, in which I could input my athletes' times in each event and sort them based off of how fast or slow each time is. The problem with that is the specialized software that exists just for that purpose.
Perhaps my biggest problem with Access is beyond two tutorial sessions and two brief assignments I've never had the NEED to use the program. I suppose forcing myself to practice it more could help develop my schema, but I just don't see a need for it at this point. No harm in trying though.
I always find it interesting how a person can either find a program to be easy or frustrating. I found Access to be easier than Excel. Excel intimidates me more for some reason. Yet even though Access was easier I also agree that I wasn't 100% sure when I would use it. I thought I could try to use it like Excel or maybe for organizing class data somehow. I believe there is a time and a place for everything, even Access!
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